There was a nationwide "lettuce shortage" back in the '70s. All-you-can-eat salad bars were closely policed if not closed. Some burger joints charged extra for burgers. I hadn't noticed because I don't care for lettuce, but at the height of this shortage, Jimmy did.
One day in the school lunch room, he announced it had been thirty-some-odd days in a row that every school lunch had come with a leaf of lettuce. He then promplty announced, "I love lettuce!" and began grabbing it off every tray in sight and shuving it in his mouth.
He was one of the funniest guys at Sulphur Rock High School. I was best friends with his big brother, Don. He was part of the bunch of us who cruised around Batesville, Arkansas in our parents' station wagons on Saturday nights because there was nothing else to do. I remember him leaning out the car window screaming, "Rocky was robbed" and demanding a rematch with Apollo Creed after a half dozen of us went to see "Rocky." Or having us slow down by a hitch-hiker, ask, "Tired of walking?" and yelling "Then run for a while."
Earlier this week, CPL Jimmy Buie was cruising through the streets of Baghdad when a roadside bomb exploded. I just found out.
More than 1,300 American service men and women have died in the Iraq War. Jimmy was the first I knew. (KYW-TV) [Photo courtesy of the Buie family]
1 comment:
I'm sorry for your loss. Unfortunately, it's easier to keep at arm's length when you don't know someone who is maimed or killed.
I have three friends and a co-worker over there now. I pray for them and the other soldiers' safe return...
Post a Comment